In This Episode

Step aside, Millennials. There’s a new, younger group out there: Generation Z, which includes anyone born after 1996. To learn more about this generation, we sat down with Kim Parker, director of social trends research at the Pew Research Center.

After the Fact

“After the Fact” is a podcast from The Pew Charitable Trusts that brings you data and analysis on the issues that matter to you—from our environment and the sciences, to larger economic trends and public health.

Stat: Four. That’s how many letters in the DNA alphabet make up every living thing.

Story: How does genetic information transmit across generations? While trying to find out, scientists Craig Mello and Andrew Fire quite by accident made a discovery in 1998 that would earn them a Nobel Prize—and pave the way for the first drug to take on harmful genes. Pew’s Dan LeDuc talks with Mello about science’s surprises.

“After the Fact” explores the world through the eyes of those on the frontiers of discovery. Listen in for meaningful conversations and stories on a variety of scientific topics, including penguin colonies and genetic research.

Ira Flatow, the host of “Science Friday,” has been with National Public Radio since it went on the air in 1970. Although he knows the public loves science, he’s worried that most people don’t know how the scientific process works. Pew’s Dan LeDuc talks to him about why critical thinking is crucial, who asks the best questions, and how science can be addictive.

Not all of those birds are dying: Many are relocating to areas with more prey—a move aided by their ability to swim 170 kilometers a day—and 200,000 breeding pairs remain in Punta Tombo. But expert Dee Boersma, known as the Jane Goodall of penguins, says the decline may foretell worrying trends in the ecosystem. Host Dan LeDuc sits down with Boersma, and hears from a few of the penguins, to learn more.